ExtremeCloud IQ vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi comparison

The compared Extreme Networks and WatchGuard solutions aren't in the same category. Extreme Networks is ranked #13 in NMA , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 2.7% mindshare in the category. WatchGuard is ranked #24 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 7.0, and holds a 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Extreme Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

ExtremeCloud IQ

Read 76 ExtremeCloud IQ reviews

2,493 Views
449 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Read 7 WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi reviews

466 Views
457 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

ExtremeCloud IQ

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ExtremeCloud IQ and WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications.

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Network Management Applications

October 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

ExtremeCloud IQ

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (13th), Network Access Control (NAC) (11th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (21st)

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Wireless LAN (24th)

Mindshare comparison

ExtremeCloud IQ and WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ExtremeCloud IQ is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 2.7%, down 2.8% compared to last year.
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless LAN, holds 0.5% mindshare, up 0.5% since last year.

Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ExtremeCloud IQ	2.7%
Cisco DNA Center	21.8%
Cisco Catalyst Center	9.9%
Other	65.6%

Network Management Applications

Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi	0.5%
Aruba Wireless	15.4%
Ruckus Wireless	13.8%
Other	70.3%

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

KristianLarsen

Senior Consultant at Mikla IT

Helps resolve network-related issues quickly and is reasonably priced

The tool has both advantages and weaknesses because it has several pieces of software on which it has been working because of buyouts. The tool has several branches of software versions, and you can consolidate it into ExtremeCloud, but it also has the disadvantage that sometimes people can get issues because the software on the hardware is different than they expected, especially if it is not converted to the tool used. The tool has simplified things, but it also adds a complexity that sometimes stumps some users. In the future, I think the tool’s onboarding setup of a new tenant could be smoother or faster. I also think that they could provide a simpler setup for first-level support so that it can be easier for them to have a support dashboard that would help them. I am talking about customer support organizations, so you usually have a high turnaround, but you need to have something that is easier to use and where you don't need so much training.

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WarrenWilliams

Senior Account Manager at Bralin Technology Solutions

A solution that offers excellent support and makes it easy to manage networks

To utilize the solution properly, you need some training and guidance on that. Getting it working is easy, but if you're going to use it with feature sets that make WatchGuard worthwhile to use, it's probably not the easiest to set up. I'd rate the initial setup a seven out of ten. The time taken to deploy the solution depends on the project scope you're doing. Do you need ten WiFi access points or one? You could deploy the solution in an hour. We need one person to deploy the solution. But the number of people required for deployment depends on where the access points are deployed. Like, if it's the ceiling or whatever. The way we do it, we usually have an on-site technician who sets up the backend. We usually have two people when deploying the solution, but you can do it with one person. We have a team that manages the solution. But if you have ten people on a site to manage the solution, 15 minutes daily is enough.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"ExtremeCloud IQ is integrated with the Ekahau tool so that you can log in to the ExtremeCloud IQ portal, upload the cloud plans, draw all the interiors, and plan the APs with the real-time AP position."

"Extreme is transitioning to 802.11ax facilities running the 2G and the 5G cloud, allowing for higher density in education use cases, and ExtremeCloud IQ provides you with novel ways to manage everything. In the old days, you used to have a controller on-site for your access points, but everything is easier now."

"The dashboards are great and the user interface is quite intuitive."

"The Client 360 feature provides a comprehensive view of your clients and their activities, including the devices they use. Additionally, a feature called Network 360 offers a 360-degree view of the network, like data usage (in GB), the status of ports and AP, and other details. You can drill down on granular-level drills to gain insights into specific applications and usage patterns like application level and fee, where your data is being wasted or what your clients are doing with the Internet data, what kind of applications they are using, etc."

"What I like best about ExtremeCloud IQ is its ease of use. Flexibility is another pro of ExtremeCloud IQ. I also find ExtremeCloud IQ feature-rich."

"Ability to assign zero trust policies from the user."

"What's most valuable for me in ExtremeCloud IQ is easy management. It also has centralized administration, so you don't have to go to the customer site to program it. It can be programmed remotely."

"ExtremeCloud IQ is a complete package with the pilot and the co-pilot feature that gives me full visibility of the network."

More ExtremeCloud IQ pros

"They're very easy to set up and get running."

"The solution has been stable."

"We like that WatchGuard works and integrates directly with the firewalls we use."

"It makes it easy to obtain all information about the client experience."

"The Wi-Fi security features of this solution have been great for our customers who need to strictly control access to their network."

"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."

"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."

Cons

"A room for improvement in ExtremeCloud IQ is roaming. My team is facing roaming issues with the solution, particularly when using VoIP over WiFi. For example, VoIP sometimes breaks when you walk around the customer site. In terms of what I'd like to see in the next release of the solution, right now, the inventory for ExtremeCloud IQ is awful. There's no stock, and you must wait a year and a half for new stocks. It's awful."

"I know a school district, a big school district of mine, ripped out Extreme due to inefficiencies. It was the guest network that can be a struggle. They tried to differentiate between their primary network, and then offer a secondary."

"The solution will show us that there are some issues, but when we try to find those issues, we can't see them."

"The product could support multi-vendor infrastructures."

"Need port aggregation on the 2384 switches to take full advantage of ac on the APs. I understand that is on their product road map."

"Having a wizard for customers who are just starting might be helpful."

"We'd like to have a cloud dashboard from which we can see all devices."

"Browser load time for the cloud is long and needs improvement."

More ExtremeCloud IQ cons

"The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention."

"The price of this solution needs to reviewed, as it is currently high enough to deter customers from trying it."

"One of the things is if you buy it with a certain subscription, you can't easily change the subscription level."

"If a client device had issues with authentication due to out of date browser or similar difficulties, it would be nice to have the ability to migrate the client onto the portal via one click."

"Inability to import a user with one click."

"The solution can be scaled but it has limitations from my experience."

"I don't think they're available at the best price."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Start small and grow big. You can choose the basic Aerohive Connect free subscription solution and, later, if needed (in terms of functionality) you can upgrade to Aerohive Select."

"The product pricing is reasonable."

"I did a multi-year license. It was a three-year license. It compares well with others in terms of the price. It is about a hundred dollars per year on a three-year scale."

"Bring the cost down."

"Extreme licensing is based on the number of access points. When you buy the license for the first year, everything is included, such as access to mapping, etc. If you don't renew your software assurance for the second year, the access points will still work, but you can't use the cloud management tools."

"It is easy for customers to use this product because they are able to interchange the license depending on their usage rather than having to buy individual licenses for each asset."

"The pricing is so cost-effective that it leaves no room for competition with other vendors."

"I would advise that you be sure to compare apples with apples. Many customers just look at the price per AP and licences, and compare that against other solutions. But, they do not look at the complete picture such as: TCO - how much the equipment will cost you over, say, seven years? Will the customer need to change complete infrastructure when they want to buy the newest hardware? Does support include a lifetime warranty and RMA?"

More ExtremeCloud IQ pricing and cost advice

"The solution is priced high compared to competitors. However, for the features that are included in the solution, the price becomes more reasonable."

"WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing."

"Your licensing and cost, as would be required for many other solutions, being considered for eighty to two hundred and eighty different physical locations, is just about the same amount per access point."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

12%

Non Profit

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	45
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	24

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeCloud IQ?

The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period. The documentation and training courses were also costly, impacting how easily I c...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering ExtremeCloud IQ?

I rate the overall solution nine out of ten only due to the poor documentation. Despite this, I was very happy with ExtremeCloud IQ as it greatly eased my workload, allowing me to manage the networ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention. Also, when an incident occurs, the impact can be significantly huge. A recent p...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

We use WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi because we have used different tools as well, like Ubiquiti. The complexity of Ubiquiti is much more compared to WatchGuard, which provides more flexibility and is ea...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?

We recommend using WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi, but when incidents occur, it can be very difficult to identify why they happen. Normally, the issues are simple to fix, but we recently faced a major inc...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 12% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 11% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 9% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 8% of the time

More ExtremeCloud IQ Competitors

Ubiquiti WLAN vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 37% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 22% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 22% of the time

Fortinet FortiWLM vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

Compared 20% of the time

More WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeCloud IQ

October 2025

Download ExtremeCloud IQ product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi

September 2025

Download WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi product report

Also Known As

Aerohive Networks, Aerohive HiveManager, HiveManager, ExtremeCloud , ExtremeSecurity

No data available

Overview

ExtremeCloud is a resilient and scalable cloud-based network management solution offered by Extreme Networks as a subscription service.

The network is your platform of engagement for clients and staff. We have designed ExtremeCloud to provide superior user experience by empowering you and the applications that drive your business. The combination of Extreme Networks’ smart wired and wireless edges and the elasticity, resilience and scalability provided via state-of-the-art datacenters distributed strategically for worldwide availability allows you to respond to the changing needs of your business, at the speed of cloud, through a simple, multi-site aware user interface.

Extreme Networks

WatchGuard is a global leader in network security, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services for SMBs and Distributed Enterprises worldwide. Our mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for distributed enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange

Portsmouth Grammar School, HILOTEC

Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

October 2025

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